Nestled in the heart of Aiguebelle Bay, where the crystal-clear waters of the Mediterranean meet the rocky inlets of Peire Gouerbe, overlooking the Îles d’Or, stands Hôtel Les Roches, a historic summer residence on the Côte d’Azur which juts out over the sea like a ship embedded in the cliffs of Le Lavandou. Originally built in the 1930s as "Les Roches Fleuries", it became a favoured retreat for intellectuals and celebrities, including Thomas Mann, who sought refuge here in 1933, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Jean Cocteau, Christian Dior, Winston Churchill and writer Françoise Sagan, who stayed here during the filming of Bonjour Tristesse.

Today, after periods of renovation and expansion between the 1950s and 1980s, the hotel has reopened under the Relais & Châteaux banner, reimagined by architect Jean-Baptiste Pietri to restore its original spirit with a contemporary aesthetic. The intervention aims to honour the hotel’s historic “moored ship” layout on the rock, crafting fragmented volumes that follow the natural topography of the Calanques of Peire Gouerbe and emphasize its particularities, such as the slope of the land and its opening towards Cap Nègre. Pietri has also selected materials such as Bormes stone, white fiber cement, exotic wood and lacquered steel, adopting soldi walls and expansive terraces filtered by light through curved openings: a refined geometry that allows the architecture to blend seamlessly with its surroundings, creating simple overhangs and volumes in coherence with its modernist character.

The interiors, spread across 45 rooms, evoke the minimalism of 1930s-era yachts and vessels — with oak parquet and terrazzo floors, light-wood headboards, and sinuous seating in neutral tones accented with petroleum-blue hues— including in each room a private outdoor space with a sea view. In homage to the artistic heritage of this stretch of the Côte d’Azur, an area that inspired post-impressionist artists such as Signac, Seurat, Cross, and Van Rysselberghe, Hôtel Les Roches now features a substantial contemporary art collection, showcasing works by the likes of Michelangelo Pistoletto, Loris Cecchini, and Jean-Daniel Lorieux amongst others.